The United Campus Workers of Georgia union is warning UGA employees to check their pay stubs to see if they’re being erroneously charged for tobacco use.
The university’s benefits enrollment system automatically levies a $100 surcharge on employees and their dependents for tobacco use unless they opt out. Some workers who mistakenly did not opt out have recently discovered they’re being charged the fee despite not using tobacco. One person lost $800 and another lost $2,000, according to Cindy Hahamovitch, a history professor and union member.
“I read the UCWGA newsletter this month and followed their advice. Looking into my pay records, I found that UGA has been charging me $200 per month for a tobacco surcharge, despite the fact that neither I nor my spouse are smokers,” said Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Melissa Link, who works part-time editing a UGA-published journal. “This means that UGA has stolen $1,200 from me the first half of this year alone—over 10% of my salary.”
Worst of all, employees can’t always get that money back. There is an appeals process, but UCWGA said that the people they’re aware of who pursued received only a partial refund or none at all.
The union is calling on UGA to implement an opt-in system, rather than require employees to opt out, to refund money for those who neglected to opt out, and to fix a glitch that apparently switched several employees to tobacco-user status without their knowledge. The Franklin College Faculty Senate recently passed a resolution making similar demands.
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